Current opinion in neurology
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Curr. Opin. Neurol. · Dec 2012
ReviewEndpoints for clinical trials and revised assessment in neuro-oncology.
Recent advances in survival for patients with newly diagnosed and recurrent brain tumors, combined with the development of an ever-increasing number of potential treatments, has led to significant growth in the number of clinical trials for patients with brain tumors. Suitable clinical trial design and endpoints are vital for successfully evaluating these new treatments that may continue to improve outcome. However, inadequacies of clinical trial endpoints have challenged how best to evaluate promising new therapeutics. ⋯ An awareness of the benefits and imperfections of clinical trial endpoints will lead to improved clinical trial design and results. Validated endpoints of patient function, QOL, and cognition are available and increasingly valued as secondary endpoints.